Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Executive is supporting the development of an initial teacher education course specifically for Gaelic-medium primary teaching and is funding an extra 10 student places at Strathclyde University in session 2001-02 to support primary Gaelic-medium provision.As a result of these measures, it is forecast that a total of 24 students able to teach in primary Gaelic-medium will qualify from teacher education institutions at the end of academic session 2001-02. This is double the number of students who qualified last year and will boost Gaelic medium teacher numbers considerably.In addition, the current campaign to recruit more teachers includes TV advertising to coincide with Gaelic programming, advertisements in the Gaelic press and key pages of the supporting website will soon appear in the Gaelic language.

As part of the drive for continuous improvement, the consultation on the Standard for Full Registration was launched last week, in partnership with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS).When introduced from August 2002, the Standard for Full Registration will serve two main purposes. It will provide:

• a clear and concise description of the professional qualities and capabilities teachers are expected to develop in the course of induction, and
• a professional standard against which reliable and consistent decisions can be made on the fitness of new teachers for full registration with the General Teaching Council for Scotland.

In addition, we are working with our partners to develop a national framework for teachers' continuing professional development. The CPD framework, which will be in place from August 2003, will enable teachers to maintain and enhance their professional skills throughout the life of their teaching career and will underpin the new contractual obligation on all teachers to undertake 35 hours professional development each year, in addition to current working hours.

Good progress is being made towards fulfilling the commitment in Our National Health: A plan for action, a plan for change to launch a Scottish Diabetes Framework in 2001. A consultation paper was issued in July by the Scottish Diabetes Framework Working Group and two open meetings were held in Polmont (31 August) and Glasgow (7 September). These meetings were attended by about 350 people including a significant number of patients.

Together with the United Kingdom Government and the other devolved administrations we are launching a public consultation which will lead to decisions on a long-term management strategy for radioactive waste. An initial consultation document, Managing Radioactive Waste Safely, seeks views on how to promote public debate, on a proposed programme for reaching decisions and on the form of an independent advisory body.I am arranging for copies of the consultation document to be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. The document may also be obtained from:http://www.scotland.gov.uk/views/views.asp.

I am pleased to announce that the Adult Literacy Team's report will be published on Monday 2 July on the team's website.Website address: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/who/elld/alt.aspI welcome the report and broadly endorse its conclusions and 21 recommendations, although I wish to give them careful attention before making a full response to each one.I have agreed with the team's recommendation that £18.5 million of the £22.5 million previously announced for adult literacy over the next three years should be distributed through local authorities to community learning strategy partnerships, where all sectors will be able to access the new resources. I believe that this is the best way to ensure funds reach all those who can assist in meeting the national target set out in the report of helping 80,000 people over the next three years.The allocations to local authorities, shown in the table, takes account of the team's research on the main factors affecting low literacy and numeracy, so that funding can be targeted where it is most needed.Guidance will be issued shortly to local authorities detailing their individual allocations in each of the three years, which will be linked to outcomes agreed with them on behalf of the Community Learning Strategy Partnerships.Allocation of resources to local authorities for adult literacy and numeracy (2001-04)

Aberdeen City	536,537
Aberdeenshire	549,773
Angus	305,492
Argyll & Bute	270,524
Clackmannanshire	193,069
Dumfries & Galloway	508,648
Dundee City	655,944
East Ayrshire	654,555
East Dunbartonshire	194,915
East Lothian	199,539
East Renfrewshire	187,441
Edinburgh, City of	1,749,741
Falkirk	422,566
Fife	1,019,705
Glasgow City	3,741,912
Highland	586,227
Inverclyde	451,005
Midlothian	236,840
Moray	241,455
North Ayrshire	579,838
North Lanarkshire	1,015,358
Perth & Kinross	318,506
Renfrewshire	683,792
Scottish Borders	285,139
South Ayrshire	392,475
South Lanarkshire	912,270
Stirling	276,163
West Dunbartonshire	471,669
West Lothian	353,828
Eilean Siar	191,669
Orkney Islands	142,148
Shetland Islands	171,258
Total	18,500,000

We are committed to equality for women. The Scottish Executive's Equality Strategy sets out how we are delivering on that commitment and improving consultation is fundamental to that strategy. Equality for women is at the heart of the Executive's priorities on health, education, transport, crime and jobs. Our consultation exercises play a key role in identifying equality issues and making sure that the voices of women are heard in the policy-making process.

Progress has been good, and I was particularly pleased to confirm on 19 June that the UK's first wind turbine factory is to be built at Machrihanish, creating 124 direct and 44 indirect planned jobs. Meanwhile, Argyll and the Islands Enterprise are continuing to pursue the development of an advance build call centre with the potential to create up to 200 jobs in the area.

Court security is a matter which is kept under constant review by the Scottish Court Service. The recent incident at Portree Sheriff Court is being examined to determine whether there are any implications for the security of both rural and urban courts.

Following its unsuccessful application for an increase in the level of Development Grant Aid made available to shinty, the Camanachd Association (CA) accepted an offer from sportscotland to fund an independent review. The aim of the review is to provide the basis for the long-term success of the sport and the viability of the association itself. Consultants Genesis were invited to conduct the Governing Body Development Audit with the CA. The purpose of this audit is to allow the governing body the opportunity to assess the current position of the organisation in key policy areas. It also allows the governing body to check whether it is keeping pace with the expectations required of a modern, well functioning sporting organisation.The Genesis report and analysis is to be submitted by the end of August 2001. A copy of the report will be submitted simultaneously to the CA and sportscotland. The report will be the property of the CA but sportscotland will be required to check that the consultant has fulfilled its brief before making the final payment. A maximum sum of £8,000 has been allocated to complete the CA audit.

The Executive's New Strategy for Scottish Tourism contains many new actions designed to grow tourism throughout Scotland. The strategy actions will be reviewed over the course of the next few months. The Kintyre area will also benefit from the additional £5 million given to visitscotland as part of the emergency relief package following the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.